Cleric’s Lawyers Want US Suit Backed by Turkey Tossed

Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pa. Gulen is charged in Turkey with plotting to overthrow the government in a case his supporters call politically motivated. (AP Photo/Selahattin Sevi)
Turkish Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen is pictured at his residence in Saylorsburg, Pa. Gulen is charged in Turkey with plotting to overthrow the government in a case his supporters call politically motivated. (AP Photo/Selahattin Sevi)


Date posted: February 5, 2016

MICHAEL RUBINKAM

Attorneys for a reclusive Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania asked a federal judge late Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit that claims he orchestrated human rights abuses in his native Turkey, denouncing it as “pure political theater” by the Turkish government.

Turkey is believed to be funding the U.S. civil suit against Fethullah Gulen as part of a crackdown on the cleric and his movement by President Recep Erdogan.

The suit contends Gulen ordered sympathetic police, prosecutors and judges in Turkey to target members of a rival spiritual movement critical of his teachings.

His lawyers called it a baseless accusation.

“This lawsuit is pure political theater and a misuse of American judicial resources. It is the brainchild of the Turkish government and part of a broad campaign to silence Mr. Gulen, one of the strongest voices for peace and moderation in the Muslim world,” the attorneys said in a filing Wednesday night.

They added: “The spy thriller allegations as they pertain to Mr. Gulen are pure nonsense.”

Gulen, who has lived in the United States since 1999, has criticized Erdogan, his onetime ally, over the Turkish leader’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

The suit was filed in December on behalf of three men who claim Gulen sympathizers in Turkish law enforcement planted evidence, fabricated search warrants, conducted illegal wiretaps and ultimately arrested and detained the men on trumped-up charges.

It was filed by lawyer Robert Amsterdam six weeks after the Turkish government hired him to conduct a “global investigation” of Gulen, an Islamic moderate with as many as 4 million followers worldwide.

Amsterdam said in a statement Wednesday that “the public is entitled to learn both the international scope and reach of the Gulen organization, which is headquartered in the United States, as well as the type of contemptible conduct in which the organization is willing to engage.”

The suit is part of a broad campaign against Gulen’s movement in Turkey and abroad. The Erdogan regime has carried out a purge of civil servants suspected of ties to the movement, seized businesses and closed some media organizations. Gulen has been charged criminally with plotting to overthrow the government, and was placed on trial in absentia last month.

With the backing of the Turkish government, Amsterdam also has focused on a network of about 150 publicly funded U.S. charter schools started by Gulen’s followers. State and federal authorities have probed some of the schools amid allegations of financial mismanagement and visa fraud, though no criminal charges have been filed.

Amsterdam filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a building contractor that worked for the Gulen-inspired Harmony chain of charter schools in Texas, asserting the company failed to produce contracts and other documents he sought under the state’s open-records law.

Source: ABC News , February 3, 2016

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Pundits: plans to close down Turkish schools abroad arbitrary, political vandalism

Turkish intellectuals are increasingly voicing concerns about the government attempt to close down the Turkish schools that provide an education to thousands of students abroad, saying the move is personally motivated and unwise.

Importance of Hizmet’s 11-article declaration

As expected, the 11-article declaration by the Journalists and Writers Foundation, of which Fethullah Gülen serves as honorary chair, has attracted attention. The follow-up debates show that this has been remarkably positive and appropriate to prevent disorder.

Jailed journalist facing new trial for not calling Gülen movement a terror organization

Journalist Emre Soncan, who has been behind bars for 20 months, is facing a new trial for not describing the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization. Soncan, 36, used to work for Turkey’s best-selling Zaman daily, which was closed down by the Turkish government in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 due to its links to the Gülen movement.

Mother with disabled son and daughter detained over alleged coup involvement

Hatice Kökoğlu, the mother of a disabled son and a daughter, has reportedly been detained in Kütahya province over alleged links to the Gülen movement. However, the two disabled children were left alone after their mother was recently taken into custody as part of an investigation launched by the Kütahya Public Prosecutor’s Office.

EU expresses concern over declaration of Gülen movement as terrorist without due process

Maja Kocijancic, Spokesperson for European Union Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has responded a question by Turkish Minute, stating that the EU notes with concern the decision taken by the Turkish National Security Council (MGK) to include the movement of the U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen on the list of Turkish terrorist organizations.

Turkey’s Post-Coup Purge and Erdogan’s Private Army

A year later, Western intelligence officials and top Turkey analysts aren’t nearly so sure of Gulen’s complicity. Earlier this year, German spy chief Bruno Kahl revealed that Ankara has failed to convince the BND foreign intelligence agency that Gulen was behind the ill-planned and executed coup plot. “Turkey has tried to convince us of that at every level, but so far it has not succeeded,” Kahl told the German weekly Der Spiegel in March.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Human Rights Watch Director: This is a political purge… pure and simple!

Turkish woman returned to prison with newborn 4 days after birth

AK Party gov’t searches for scapegoat for stalled PKK talks

Austrian President Fischer receives Turkish Language Olympiads team

Ramadan Tent Dinner brings a flavor of the East to Bethlehem

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel honors Fethullah Gulen with Peace Award

Turkish Twitter war over education

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News